Baltimanual 2014

This is true in lots of ways. For one thing, last year came news that the population of Baltimore City grew for the first time in—ready for this?—six decades. Also, in recent years, monuments, tourist attractions, and whole neighborhoods have been revitalized. The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum...

Baltimore still lags behind civilization in lacking an integrated, comprehensive mass transit system. Decades of general stupidity have left the city with a mishmash of buses and trains, and the need for carless folks to learn a lot of science in order to get where they’re going efficiently. But...

Beware getting too attached to Baltimore, as doing so may ruin your love of anyplace else. It happened famously to the late poet Ogden Nash, who, in explaining why he and his wife cut short their Manhattan residency to return to her hometown, wrote, “I could have loved New York had I not loved...

Starting on Oct. 1 of 2014, people in Maryland caught holding less than 10 grams of marijuana face civil fines rather than criminal penalties. First-time offenders that are 21 or older get $100 fines, with subsequent offenses bumping the bill to as high as $500, and third-timers and those under...

Baltimore's art scene is defined by collaboration. Wherever you turn, artists seem to be working together concocting some mad scheme, creating a new work, or founding a new gallery or performance space. And yet, all this collaboration never equals conformity. The Annex Theater may be working with...

This year, Baltimore synth heroes Future Islands’ stunning appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman” raised their profile and even, for a moment there, had them going viral, thanks to vocalist Sam Herring’s hypnotic dancing. What followed was less of a mainstream-touching moment for the...

Eating out in Baltimore was, for a long time, a mostly predictable and provincial enterprise: Local seafood and a handful of regional specialties like soft crabs, crab soup, and crab cakes, plus tried-and-true riffs on continental cuisine, were the best the city had to offer, save for Charm City’s...

Gone are the days when you had to go to a full-blown restaurant to get good food. Baltimore is churning out creative, gourmet meals right there on the street. Though this list does not even begin to cover all the notable food trucks in Baltimore—and new ones are popping up all the time—here’s a...

Only in the past couple of decades have Baltimore’s beer-making roots made a comeback, trading the bygone Canton-based National Brewing Company (proud maker of lawnmower beers like Colt 45 and of course National Bohemian) for smaller-scale independent operations within the city and surrounding...

Over the next few pages, you’ll see Baltimore’s bars split up into easy-to-understand categories (dive, sports, booze, swanky, and gay). This is helpful for those new to the city, but as soon as you venture out on your own, slicing and dicing the city’s nightlife in categories like this will probably...

Ever Since we accidentally rounded the corner of East Baltimore and Gay streets, the Block has exerted a formidable power over our imaginations and sometimes our wallets. Left over from the heyday of Baltimore’s renowned burlesque circuit, the Block is a gloriously sleazy sequence of strip clubs...

The other day we heard ourselves saying, “Medfield is the new Hampden,” which was not at all what we meant to say (beer) but it makes about as much sense as the nonsensical “Baltimore is the new Brooklyn.” Screw Williamsburg; Baltimore’s been building a solid base of independent shops inspired...

For those jonesing to re-up on electronic-cigarette juices or equipment in Baltimore, the city currently has five vape shops dedicated solely to this safer alternative to combusted tobacco. The Vapory (19 W. Preston St., [443] 759-8519, thevapory.net) in Midtown Belvedere is an English-basement...

Whether you’re a channel-surfing couch potato or a balls-to-the-wall weekend warrior, Baltimore, Maryland is the sportsman or sportswoman’s paradise. For the “I’d rather watch” set, the Baltimore Ravens are perennial powerhouses and the Orioles have gone from upstarts to established contenders,...

As a kid, I thought Baltimore sucked. I grew up in the Northwest suburbs and only ventured into ¿the city¿ for O¿s and Colts games at Memorial Stadium¿where I thought I was slick using the binoculars to ogle cheerleaders until I caught my dad smiling and realized he was onto me¿or the occasional...

We don’t always get the chance to stay in hotels in our own city. But whether it’s the result of burst pipes or collapsed streets, quite a few Baltimoreans got to experience our city’s hospitality first hand over the past year. And whether you’re coming to town for a visit, or hoping to put up...

Every city has a tree lighting around Christmastime, but how many can boast an entire festival of decorated trees or a giant lit-up monument to the country’s first president? The festivals and events throughout the year are a reflection of the city’s fabric. Sure, there are plenty of events celebrating...